Metropolis, a giant city in the future. The evil Duke Red is a rich bastard who gave Dr. Laughton an order to construct a robot in the form of his dead daughter Tima so that she could control the powerful zigurat in the town. Kenichi and his uncle Shinsaku Ban, an detective, came in Metropolis to find Dr. Laughton who is being suspected for stealing human organs. Accidentally, they find Tima just as Rock destroyed Dr. Laughton's laboratory...
Just like most acclaimed animes from Japan, "Metropolis" was also an brilliantly directed sci-fi film, but there was still something missing for it's story to be considered a true classic of sci-fi genre like Hideaki Anno's "Shin Seiki Evangelion" or Leiji Matsumoto's "Sen-nen joo". The reason for that is hard to find: maybe it lies in the mild presentation of the story or in the too brief romantic relationship between Kenichi and the robotic Tima.
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The director Rintaro's choice for an synthesis of detailed animation of buildings and caricature 40s drawings of the characters, high tech style and old jazz music resulted in a hermetic movie that isn't for everyone's taste, but which deserves at least a second viewing. Full of interesting scenes ( a robot says that he isn't permitted to have a name since it would insult humans, zigurat's laser rays that shoot the Sun causing Sun spots which make the robots go crazy ), "Metropolis" is an amusing bow to Fritz Lang's "Metropolis".
Grade: 7/10
Just like most acclaimed animes from Japan, "Metropolis" was also an brilliantly directed sci-fi film, but there was still something missing for it's story to be considered a true classic of sci-fi genre like Hideaki Anno's "Shin Seiki Evangelion" or Leiji Matsumoto's "Sen-nen joo". The reason for that is hard to find: maybe it lies in the mild presentation of the story or in the too brief romantic relationship between Kenichi and the robotic Tima.
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The director Rintaro's choice for an synthesis of detailed animation of buildings and caricature 40s drawings of the characters, high tech style and old jazz music resulted in a hermetic movie that isn't for everyone's taste, but which deserves at least a second viewing. Full of interesting scenes ( a robot says that he isn't permitted to have a name since it would insult humans, zigurat's laser rays that shoot the Sun causing Sun spots which make the robots go crazy ), "Metropolis" is an amusing bow to Fritz Lang's "Metropolis".
Grade: 7/10